Dead Island 2: Best starting character

You've got six characters to choose from, and you'd better choose right

Contents

1. Dead Island 2: All playable characters - stats and abilities
2. Dead Island 2: Best starting character

Dead Island 2 offers up six playable characters, called slayers, each of which has their own unique stats, perks, and abilities. Some are better suited for beginner players, while others offer interesting abilities for those with particular play styles.

Unfortunately, once you pick a slayer at the start of the game, you’re locked into that character for the entirety of the game’s story. You don’t even get to try a character out before you make your decision, and some of the stats and abilities are a little unclear if you haven’t played before.

We’ve put together this guide listing all of the slayers, their stats, and unique abilities, along with our picks for which characters are the best to pick when starting out in Dead Island 2.

Dead Island 2: All playable characters - stats and abilities

Amy

Amy is somewhat of a glass cannon, with low toughness and health but a good amount of agility and damage output. Her play style is all about dashing in to deal damage, dashing out to avoid getting hit, then throwing weapons at a distance.

Stats

• Toughness: 1
• Stamina: 3
• Health recovery: 3
• Critical damage: 4
• Agility: 5
• Peak health: 2
• Resilience: 3

Unique perks

Relief Pitcher - You get a little bit of stamina back when you throw a weapon at an enemy, which helps you stay agile and out of the way.

Divide and Conquer - When you’re attacking a zombie by itself, you get a small damage boost, letting you take out lone zombies quickly before alerting the hoard.

Jacob

Jacob is a jack of all trades, being the most well-rounded of the characters on offer. He gets knocked down easily, but his huge health stat makes this much less terrifying.

Stats

• Toughness: 3
• Stamina: 4
• Health Recovery: 2
• Critical Damage: 3
• Agility: 3
• Peak health: 5
• Resilience: 1

Unique perks

Feral - You’ll get a stackable damage boost when attacking zombies in quick succession, and given most of the combat is spamming the attack button, this is very powerful.

Critical Gains - While your stamina is low, critical hits give a big boost to critical damage and top up your stamina a little bit.

Bruno

Bruno is a master of stealth who’s not built for being in the thick of it. You’ll need to keep on your toes if you want to play as him, but his damage output is unmatched.

Stats

• Toughness: 2
• Stamina: 3
• Health Recovery: 3
• Critical Damage: 5
• Agility: 4
• Peak health: 1
• Resilience: 3

Unique perks

Backstab - You’ll get a big damage boost when attacking a zombie from behind, in addition to the critical damage doled out from doing so.

Rapid Reprisal - Your agility and heavy attacks get boosted when you block or dodge, and given Bruno’s whole deal is attacking from behind, a quick dodge behind an enemy will deal massive damage.

Carla

Carla can take an absolute beating before getting knocked down, making her a force to be reckoned with in boss fights. She excels at fighting large groups of zombies at once.

Stats

• Toughness: 4
• Stamina: 3
• Health Recovery: 3
• Critical Damage: 1
• Agility: 2
• Peak health: 3
• Resilience: 5

Unique perks

Mosh Pit - When fighting a group of enemies, you get a small damage boost to your melee attacks.

Dig Deep - When you’re very low on health, you get a big boost to toughness, making it harder for you to die at critical moments.

Dani

Dani is the little engine that could, all about staying alive and fighting for as long as possible. She’s got a decent amount of health, a bucketload of stamina, and skills that encourage playing aggressively.

Stats

• Toughness: 3
• Stamina: 5
• Health Recovery: 1
• Critical Damage: 3
• Agility: 3
• Peak health: 4
• Resilience: 2

Unique perks

Thunderstruck - Charging up for a heavy attack causes a force explosion, briefly stopping surrounding zombies in their tracks

Bloodlust - You gain a little bit of health back when killing multiple zombies in short succession, which is good because Dani’s health recovery is very slow.

Ryan

Ryan is a tank of a character, with lots of health, defensive ability, and perks that let him restore health and deal more damage after dodging and blocking.

Stats

• Toughness: 5
• Stamina: 3
• Health recovery: 3
• Critical damage: 2
• Agility: 1
• Peak health: 3
• Resilience: 4

Unique perks

Retaliation - This skill increases your Force after a well-timed dodge or block, which makes you more likely to knock down zombies when attacking.

Seesaw - In perfect tandem with Retaliation, this skill recovers a little bit of health every time you knock down a zombie.

Dead Island 2: Best starting character

Depending on how you want to play, the best starting character in Dead Island 2 will differ. We’ve outlined a few different options depending on how you want to approach your time in Hell-A, but all of the characters have their strengths and weaknesses.

Best starting character for beginners

Jacob is by far the best character to choose if you’re just starting out, as he does just about everything at least a little bit well. His Feral damage boost is a godsend, as he’ll always be dishing out big damage after just a few hits, while his high health means you can stay in the action a little longer than other characters.

His low resilience does mean that fighting some particularly strong enemies can be a little dicey at times, but as long as you’re well-prepared before heading into battle, you should be able to breeze past just about any fight. He’s also probably the character with the least annoying dialogue, which doesn’t affect his combat abilities, but does affect how long you can put up with the game.

Best starting character for dealing damage

Bruno is a high risk, high reward character, but he’s deeply satisfying to play once you get the gameplay loop down. His skills mean that he’ll be dealing the most damage of just about any character in the game, and if you do a little bit of sneaking you’ll usually be able to get a bit of a leg up at the start of most combat encounters.

He is, however, very fragile, with the lowest maximum health of any playable character. That means you have to be on top of health pickups and medkits at all times, and you absolutely have to learn to dodge and block attacks well. He also performs particularly well in co-op, where another, more tanky character can take the heat while he takes down enemies from behind.

Best starting character for staying alive

If you want to stay alive the longest, Carla is your best bet. She’s got fantastic defensive stats and her damage output is boosted while fighting large groups of enemies, which is almost always.

She might not be the most powerful character in the game, but she does decent enough damage to make most combat encounters manageable. She’s a very low risk character, basically incapable of dying in even the most trying circumstances, and a good addition to any co-op lobby.